Court issues notice on lack of teachers in air force school

The Delhi High Court Monday sought a response from the Delhi government on a petition seeking filling up of vacant posts of teachers in the Air Force Senior Secondary School here.

The parents of some students studying in the school in west Delhi approached the court seeking direction to fill up the 14 vacant posts of teaching staff and one post of non-teaching staff.

The petitioners claimed that in the absence of adequate teaching staff for several years, nearly 1,900 students were facing difficulty.

The bench of hearing the matter asked the directorate of education (DOE) to file its response by Jan 20, the next date of hearing.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the petitioner parents, said that non-filling of the posts for a long time without any justification was a violation of the right to education.

“The provisions of Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act says that a school is required to have a proper pupil-teacher ratio within six months of the law coming into force in March 2010,” he said.

“Not only there are vacant posts in the teachers’ category, but also there are vacant posts in clerical staff which also affects the education of the students,” he said.

The petition said that since it was a government-aided school, the management of the school was required to pass a resolution for filling up of all the posts and send the same to the directorate.

“It is an obligation on the part of the DOE to ensure that the school fills up all the vacant posts at the earliest,” the petitioners said.